STATE HOUSE ROUNDUP -- Labor of love for candidates

Monday

What do butter cows, greasy spoons and Stop & Shop picket lines have in common?

If you're running for president in 2020, you probably want to be seen near one.

Former Vice President Joe Biden hadn't officially hit the state fair and diner tour of states like Iowa and New Hampshire, but he was on the back of a Teamsters Local 25 flatbed truck in the parking lot of a Dorchester supermarket April 18 to show support for striking workers.

The nine-day old Stop & Shop strike -- which ended after the announcement of a tentative contract agreement April 21 -- actually became something more than a labor dispute pitting workers against a multinational corporation and disrupting the shopping habits of thousands of New Englanders.

It became a cause celebre for 2020 Democrats.

"I know you're used to hearing political speeches and I'm a politician, I get it. But this is way beyond that, guys. This is way beyond that," Biden said. "This is wrong. This is morally wrong, what's going on around this country, and I've had enough of it. I'm sick of it. And so are you."

Biden bemoaned what he called an attack on the types of benefits for the working class -- health care, retirement, etc. -- that made the growth in the middle class possible a generation ago. And he wasn't alone in seeing opportunity in the strike.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren brought Dunkin' to a picket line in Somerville April 12, and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg stopped in Malden April 19 on his way north to chat up striking workers. Other candidates issued statements.

Not on the picket lines, yet? Massachusetts's other presidential candidate, Bill Weld.

The former governor made his campaign for the Republican nomination and challenge of President Donald Trump official, and then swept through the Granite State that included a stop at the Red Arrow diner in Manchester.

Meanwhile, photos emerged of U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton taping what many assumed to be a presidential campaign announcement video on the seashore in Marblehead, and he announced plans to speak at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics.

Moulton made it official April 22.

While Massachusetts politicians can be like moths to a flame every four years when it's time to run for president, Gov. Charlie Baker can't seem to get far enough away.

The Democratic Party last week taunted Baker over whether he would support his mentor Weld now that Big Red was in the race, knowing how much Baker hates talking national politics. But Baker was busy keeping a low-profile, despite Fortune magazine naming him the 20th greatest world leader.

The governor's administration, however, continued to raise the hackles of community groups frustrated by Baker's unwillingness to release all $30 million in low-income home heating assistance authorized by the Legislature.

The administration faced an initial backlash after it said it would spend $11 million this year and hold the remaining $19 million until fiscal 2020. And didn't succeed in quieting those critics when it confirmed last week that it had upped this year's allotment to $19 million and held back just $11 million.

Mindy Domb, the new House legislator from Amherst, accused Baker of "being stingy on the backs of low-income people in our state," and a full explanation from the administration was not exactly forthcoming.

Explaining how and why state dollars are being spent will fall to House leaders this week, if they are up to the challenge.

The impending budget debate, and school vacation week, lulled Beacon Hill into a soft slumber, but legislators and the media will need the rest to keep up with what's on tap.

House lawmakers have filed 1,370 amendments to the $42.7 billion Ways and Means budget, some of which highlight the tension that exists between House Speaker Robert DeLeo and his cautious approach to this year's budget.

DeLeo's stated intention to forestall a debate over new taxes didn't stop members like Rep. Mike Connolly from filing an amendment to raise $1 billion in new revenue by hiking capital gains taxes. The question will be whether he forces debate or lets it die quietly as a placeholder for the conversations to come.

As usual, however, there is a cushion built into the Ways and Means budget that allows for some additional spending without new revenue, which has given hope to members looking, for instance, to boost UMass funding by $10 million and give universities what they say they need to freeze tuition and fees.

The spotlight might be on the House for much of this week, but the Senate's has more planned than just making some popcorn and watching the show.

Senate President Karen Spilka, back from her Florida vacation, is scheduled to address the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce April 25, where she's expected to talk about the working groups she's assembling to look at the tax code, transportation and mental health, and perhaps give a tease of what to expect in her own budget proposal next month.

Later that day, the Senate will take up the so-called "Gender X" bill that the Senate Ways and Means Committee released last week with a new wrinkle.

The bill, like the one that passed the Senate last year, would instruct the Registry of Motor Vehicles to allow license and permit applicants to select a third, gender-neutral option when checking off a box identifying their sex.

The Senate version of the bill this year, however, also includes language that would allow people to have the sex on their birth records changed to reflect a person's gender identity.